England aiming to 'put things right' in must-win Netherlands clash in Nations League, says Keira Walsh

Keira Walsh says England are determined to “put things right” ahead of their must-win UEFA Nations League clash with the Netherlands on Friday evening.

England are third in Group A1 and need a victory to keep their hopes of qualifying for the finals – and securing Great Britain a place at the Paris 2024 Olympics – alive.

The Lionesses have won two and lost two in the group, having been beaten 3-2 by Belgium last time out.

“We want to put the things right that weren’t so good in the Belgium game and, yes, it’s going to be a difficult game for us,” Walsh said.

“We know it’s a must-win, but I’m hoping that we can show the resilient side to us, and character, and put in a performance.”

England dominated possession against Belgium in their last game and had plenty of chances, but were largely wasteful in front of goal.

“All the stats are still in our favour,” added Walsh.

“We created a lot of chances. We had a lot of ball possession in the final third. I think it was maybe just a slight lack of concentration at times. It happens and most of the time you don’t get punished, but it was just one of those games where we did.

“But let’s not catastrophise it; it wasn’t the worst game in the world for us, and although the result might look like that I think there were still a lot of positives to take from it.”

England will be without skipper Millie Bright after she withdrew from the squad with a knee injury.

Bright’s absence means England are short of experienced options at the back, but Walsh said: “It’s up to the group as a whole, when there are certain players missing.

“We’ve still got a lot of quality within the team but it’s [important that] as a group we all step up and we all take a little bit more leadership and a little bit more responsibility. That’s the whole point of having a squad, it’s that we trust in everyone.”

England manager Sarina Wiegman says she has “confidence” her side will get the result they need against the Dutch.

“I think the team is ready. We’re really excited to play at Wembley tomorrow. I think the camp so far from Monday to now has gone really well.

“We’re very clear on how we want to play and what we want to do; I see good things on and off pitch, and that gives me confidence that we’re really ready for tomorrow, and of course we all know what we have to do.

“If you look at the games I don’t think we played really poor, just in moments we didn’t get it over the line and then we got some losses – which is not good, we want to do better.

“In football, just as in life, you have ups and downs, and what we want to do is get to the high again, and that is what we are going to try to do.”

Goalkeeper Mary Earps is set to captain the side while Beth Mead could feature after recovering from her ACL injury.

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